Skype, the video call and messaging service, is officially closed after 22 years

“In order to optimize our free offers for consumer communication so that we can easily adapt to customer needs, we will retire in May 2025 to concentrate on Microsoft teams (free), our modern communication and collaboration center,” said Jeff Teper, President of Microsoft, Collaborative apps and platforms.

Microsoft decided to switch Skype to concentrate his resources on the development of his Microsoft team -app that contains all the services that have provided the Skype and more. As part of the transition, Microsoft announced that all consumers who previously used Skype to offer a free version of teams.

“For teams, users have access to many of the same core functions they use in Skype, such as individual calls and group calls, messaging and file approval,” said Teper. “In addition, teams offer improved functions such as hosting meetings, the management of calendars and that free of charge on the construction and accession to communities.”

Teper also explained that teams on the video conference market have set a presence and that the product is currently being used by “hundreds of millions” of people to connect with others at home, at school and to work. He also emphasized that “the number of minutes spent in the meetings of consumers of teams” has quadrupled in the past two years.

Skype was created in 2003 by Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis as a service for calling the Internet. Over the years, it developed into a free video call and messaging application. Reports show that over 300 million people had used Skype at his climax. However, the Skype customers immersed in the years when consumers wanted to use other products that made competition on the market possible, e.g. B. WhatsApp and Slack.

While Covid Pandemic, as video call services, became a staple for communication, consumers opted for services as a zoom and teams via Skype. By 2020, the number of Skype users fell to 40 million. This downward trend continued. According to reports, only 36 million people used Skype by 2023.